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One More Chance For $2.4 Billion Bullet Train
February 25, 2011
Despite Gov. Rick Scott’s assertion that high speed rail will not leave the station in Florida, U.S. Department of Transportation Ray LaHood on Friday said the trains may still run.
In a statement, LaHood said after talking with Scott earlier in the day that he is giving Florida officials another week to determine if they can drum up local support to continue with a high speed rail project for which the federal government is offering to pay $2.4 billion.
“This morning I met with Gov. Rick Scott to discuss the high speed rail project that will create jobs and economic development for the entire state of Florida. He asked me for additional information about the state’s role in this project, the responsibilities of the Florida Department of Transportation, as well as how the state would be protected from liability,” LaHood said in the statement.
“I have decided to give Gov. Scott additional time to review the agreement crafted by local officials from Orlando, Tampa, Lakeland and Miami, and to consult with his staff at the state Department of Transportation. He has committed to making a final decision by the end of next week. I feel we owe it to the people of Florida, who have been working to bring high speed rail to their state for the last 20 years, to go the extra mile.”
In an interview with Bloomberg Television late this week, LaHood rejected Scott’s assertion that the state’s taxpayers will be on the hook if the train comes up short on riders. “I don’t know of another person in Florida that agrees with that, I don’t know of another economist, another person that’s looked at the plans in Florida,” LaHood said. “A lot of smart people have put these plans together. There would have been no financial liability or responsibility to the taxpayers of Florida – others were going to assume responsibility for the direction of high speed rail. I don’t know of anybody else, except for the governor, who thinks this would be a bad deal.”
Comments
8 Responses to “One More Chance For $2.4 Billion Bullet Train”
“the federal government is offering to pay $2.4 billion”
The fact is that the U.S. is trillions of dollars in debt, so where will they magically come up with this 2.4 billion dollars? With the usual cost overruns, construction delays, etc., the cost for this rail project could potentially skyrocket. Which means Florida taxpayers will be left holding the bag, if this ends up being a flop.
At least our governor is smart enough to realize this. Just because it seems like a good deal, doesn’t mean it is a good deal. There is no such thing as “free” money. Economics 101.
What some people seem to not understand is that if florida does not take this money, then another state will get it instead.
So the money is there, I guess New York will step in and get Floridas share of the cash for jobs and projects
Highspeed rail would bring more tourism to Florida, who is already hurting since the oil spill.
Tourism helps to keep jobs in a lot of industries, shops, hotels, restaurants and more
“I don’t know of another person in Florida that agrees with that…” Try checking with the voters who turned down high speed rail as part of a Constituional change. Aske the State Elected officials who were castigated for their vote this past December for their vote. Ask them what they plan on doing during the next election, whether Republican or Democrat for backdooring what the voters turned down by over 60% when given the chance to vote on this rail deal. And while La Hood’s at it, have him take a look at the United States Check book he’ll find not a zero balance but a huge deficit. In Real Estate there is an axiom, people need to look at their needs before they look at their wants. Something the government needs to learn.
I can see the point these trains will only be in the south part of the state. Traveling from like Orlando to miami, because nobody really from the south part of the state wants to come to Santa rosa or escambia county. but the trains are nice to have. You take cities like san diego that have a trolly system $5.00 and ride all day, one end of there county to the other and back ($5.00 that’s a gallon of gas) and if I was driving my suv that would be a tank of gas $94.00 to fill it up
What part of ‘The Nation is Broke’ do these folks not understand?
I only wish the rest of the government were as responsible to say
‘NO’ as our governor.
Refund the money to the American Taxpayer!!
Ok let’s take the deal, after all the entire cost is free.
No Florida resident pays federal taxes – right.
Money is unlimited.
The fed just has to print more, which of course doesn’t devalue what we have or will have.
Our government has a perfect tract record of never wasting our money.
They were nice enough to offer it again, in case he did not understand completely the first time
“There would have been no financial liability or responsibility to the taxpayers of Florida ”
Seems clear, does it not?